In 1988, shortly after George H.W. Bush was elected president, I asked his son, Marvin, whether anyone from his generation of the family had an interest in public life. "We have always thought that Jeb might run for office some day," he answered.

"And what about George W. Bush?" I asked. After all, he was the firstborn.

"George?" Marvin answered. "He's the family clown."

Marvin wasn't the first or last person to underestimate George W., even within the family. The senior Bush, when asked how it felt to see his son win the presidency, said, "Remember when your kid comes home from school and you are expecting failure and he gets As? That's exactly how it feels."

Even George W. Bush was sometimes amazed at the ongoing process. In her 2002 pop art campaign film Journeys With George, Alexandra Pelosi sat down with the candidate at the front of the bus for a final interview. "OK," she said, "if you get elected president, what are you going to do for the little guy?"

"The little guy?" he answered. "I am the little guy. Jeb is 6-4 and I am only 5-11."

George W. Bush is not the first president to come from the shadows of his family. Joe Kennedy Jr. was expected to be the president from his generation, not his brother Jack. When a sickly Jack Kennedy arrived at Harvard, he apologized to a professor about his academic struggles as well as his ability at sports. "I'm not as talented as Joe," he said.

Milton overshadowed Dwight

The Eisenhower family always expected great things from Milton, the baby in the family. Home from Washington, D.C., for a Kansas Thanksgiving, he would enthrall the dinner table with stories of White House receptions. As late as 1936, Dwight was only a major in the Army; his brother was a budding, successful bureaucrat with a future.

When Augustine Washington lay dying, all his hopes were on the shoulders of his son, Lawrence, who had been given the best education, trips to London, the estate of Mount Vernon and most of the money. But it was the little, unnoticed, uneducated, 11-year-old George, who stood in the shadows by his father's side, who would achieve glory beyond anything his father could have ever imagined.

One by one, George W. Bush has dispatched the ghosts that have tormented his life. He has conquered his drinking and the inner demons that drove him to the bottle in the first place. He beat his brother into a governor's mansion, kept promises on taxes that his father couldn't and finished off Saddam Hussein, the man his father left standing.

Even after George W. had become president, the Bush family had taken to calling him "Quincy" after John Quincy Adams, the only other president's son to win the White House for himself. But no more. "Quincy" was voted out of office. George W. Bush has won re-election.

Dispatching the demons

Other ghosts out there rise up as soon as one is dispatched. There is the curse of the second term, for example, when hubris leads presidents into scandals. There is the ghost of presidents past: being compared with Ronald Reagan. But George W. Bush is very close to running the table, and he probably feels it.

The bright sunshine of excessive expectations can sometimes scorch and kill, while the shadows offer room for maneuver, mistake, learning and healing. It is in these shadows that presidents and high achievers are often born, but ultimately success brings them into the sunshine.

George W. Bush has exquisite pacing. He has stayed the process as long as possible, but he is not likely to be underestimated anymore.

The game is up. He is in the sunshine now, and we will see how he survives.

Doug Wead is the author of the new book, The Raising of a President: The Mothers and Fathers of Our Nation's Leaders. He also was special assistant to President George H.W. Bush.